1. How many rounds of Sealed Deck did you play during the prerelease? (If you dropped at some point, do mention that.) What was your final record?
5. 3-2
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
Surture priest, Beast within, especially
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions?
Pristine talisman and the Razor Swine were both powerhouses
Infiltration lens and Assault strobe were both worse than Panic spellbomb every time i saw them in my hand during testing. Sure i run elemental appeal. Sure i tried Zektar Shrine but neither were any good @ sorcery speed because it's too hard to rely on your opponent tapping out in this meta. Panic spellbomb on the other hand is not only a cantrip but it plays into a curve that also lets you force a block not to happen which turns browbeat into Gifts ungiven by denying your opponent a good choice. I would not play stun but i would play it if it's 1 mana over 2 turns of messed up curve out (say geopede t2, kiln fiend t3 and then dragonlord and crack spellbomb t4 pretty good.
Half of you obviously don't play a good RDW list. All of you with the universal criteria syndrome suffer because you assume that RDW plays like other colors and it's quite the opposite.
Seriously of all the comments on here
"Why if you don't play a Fireball variant, You must not be a very good player!"
Please. Staggershock is 4 damage over 2 turns. Burst lightning is 4 damage or 2 damage if you really need it. Lightning bolt is obviously good. Fireball is a sorcery with a terribly inefficient kicker that doesn't even get good with koth. Comet storm is the exact same way. Searing blaze is the card that 2-for-1's. It also costs 2 mana instead of 6 for comet storm and (dear god) 8 for fireball. Fetchlands make it instant speed too.
The only acceptable X burn spell to run in RDW was Earthquake and RIP to that.
Why would you even play a card that's only good with a koth? There's no other mana-rushing that can substitute and there isn't any sort of consistancy if cards in your hand are dead without 4 of 60 when you have no draw spells or scrying ability.
Koth can win you the game single-handedly. His ultimate is so much better than any other planeswalker in standard right now because it happens faster and can't be undone save destructive force. Why would you want to hurt that for mana ramp? I can see only two good reasons. Kargan dragonlord and Elemental Appeal, and those are some damn good reasons, depending on the situations (that situation being an aerial bombing or a tapped out stomp and romp).
Running high CMC spells is Card disadvantage and if you're running burn i personally think you have enough of that. Why? Because you have to take out quality cards for land in order to consistently play your high CMC spells. I run a single chandra nalaar in my list and i plan to replace her when i get a second or third koth.
Think about it this way-> Koth as a 4 drop basically says you can draw a card since you don't have to count on drawing that extra land, and therefore the card you draw is that much more likely to not be a land. Now couple that with the fact that it comes down a turn earlier. Still not convinced? You make a point that they could block with chumps. It's turn 4 so Elspeth has likely not dropped tokens to chump block with, and if they want to run memnite or ornithopter or something else, wouldn't you be happy if they block your mountain instead of having to waste burn so your geopede or goblin guide can get through? That might as well be a +1 repeatable Flame slash with Rebound most likely and i'd play that in Any RDW list.
Best cards against it-> Flashfreeze(obviously) and Vampire Hexmage. Although personally testing against hexmage if you play Zektar shrine, Koth and Dragonlord forcing a hexmage sac makes it that much worse. Usually you can have some interaction like killing hexmage before dropping koth but there's always the lucky topdecks.
In conclusion i will play koths in my RDW and will be very happy to see people unwilling to play him because they think that their slow U/W list or Infiltration lens combo or Quest for the holy relic can finish me off. And that's because i'd probably win.
^ Agreed. if you want some consistency for a white splashed red, those plains and fetches should be duals
OK look, if a card like Smoldering spires saw play, why can't this see play with the red spell bomb? You force a creature not to block, tap 2 red, and get your card advantage in the form of RR->3 1/1 goblins. This is not that bad with chieftain in standard along with warren instigator. There just needs to be some 4-5 manacost goblins for this to work without just stalling out after turn 5.
At that point you're pretty much discarding 4 cards and paying 6 mana just to play this for 1 and use it's ability to draw cards? That's almost as ridiculous as vensering' koth so you can use his -2 again.
Tunnel Ignus is junk and reminds me of Mindbreak Trap. Sort of a "keep certain decks in line" kind of card that doesn't do its job well enough. Mindbreak trap didn't do anything to cascade and this barely punishes fetches/ramp decks. Also, this guy will do nothing in scars limited except be a wasted rare slot.
Sorry if you thought mindbreak trap was for cascade, it was basically wizards' response to Storm combos in legacy. One in the hand can basically ruin all of charbelcher's win conditions. It wasn't that bad in cruel control either, since it's still a hard counter for 4.
Tunnel ingus is miles above this. If you've played RDW you know how much you want that extra damage, and all this does is force valakut and ramp to have some interaction with the opponent. I can't tell you how often the matchup is basically "ramp" "ball lightning" "ramp" "ball" "titan" "burn to face" "valakut kills", and this will at least force valakut to play some disruption. With kargan dragonlord and this guy i expect valakut to play something interesting instead of just trying to walk on by massive damage.
If you have cards in mind that could use this color fixing, I'd like to hear it.
Why not just run elemental appeal? You aren't suggesting a splash and this way if they have WoO out you get at least a lightning bolt out of the ordeal. Pyretic ritual arc runner is silly, however, because you're essentially discarding 2 cards to do 5 damage. That's like lightning bolt and the worst card in RDW put together, which is no great combo accomplishment when your turn 2 and 3 tempo plays are relevant.
Flame slash is not a terrible idea if baloths and omens are everywhere. I usually side out my forked bolt set if i see omens instead of birds and 'shamans. I am pleased with them and run them where you run your ricochet. To be honest i've never liked ricochet because i always see my best spells countered by flashfreeze against control (or blue in general) which means it can't be hijacked.
Anyway, in the case of U/W, you basically put in your entire board except maybe combust, taking out burst lightning for manabarbs, searing blaze for brittle effigy, combust in somewhere if you see baneslayers where sun titans usually are, leyline for ember hauler, and probably 2 thunders and 2 hellsparks for your (flame slash) ricochet trap.
Flame slashing a baloth is my favorite play against that card. I honestly think that when your ball lightning gets a open smash because you played a red instant for 1 on a tempo you're probably doing pretty well, despite +4 life.
5. 3-2
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you?
Pith driller, Geth's verdict, Brutalizer exarch
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
Surture priest, Beast within, especially
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions?
Pristine talisman and the Razor Swine were both powerhouses
Celestial purge
4 Staggershock
4 Lightning bolt
4 Burst lightning
4 Kiln fiend
4 Ember hauler
4 Goblin bushwhacker
4 Elemental appeal
3 Devastating summons
2 Chandra Nalaar
3 Cerebral eruption
2 Crystal ball
18 Mountain
4 Brittle Effigy
4 Dragon's claw
3 Searing blaze
2 Manic Vandal
2 Leyline of Punishment
Seriously of all the comments on here
"Why if you don't play a Fireball variant, You must not be a very good player!"
Please. Staggershock is 4 damage over 2 turns. Burst lightning is 4 damage or 2 damage if you really need it. Lightning bolt is obviously good. Fireball is a sorcery with a terribly inefficient kicker that doesn't even get good with koth. Comet storm is the exact same way. Searing blaze is the card that 2-for-1's. It also costs 2 mana instead of 6 for comet storm and (dear god) 8 for fireball. Fetchlands make it instant speed too.
The only acceptable X burn spell to run in RDW was Earthquake and RIP to that.
Why would you even play a card that's only good with a koth? There's no other mana-rushing that can substitute and there isn't any sort of consistancy if cards in your hand are dead without 4 of 60 when you have no draw spells or scrying ability.
Koth can win you the game single-handedly. His ultimate is so much better than any other planeswalker in standard right now because it happens faster and can't be undone save destructive force. Why would you want to hurt that for mana ramp? I can see only two good reasons. Kargan dragonlord and Elemental Appeal, and those are some damn good reasons, depending on the situations (that situation being an aerial bombing or a tapped out stomp and romp).
Running high CMC spells is Card disadvantage and if you're running burn i personally think you have enough of that. Why? Because you have to take out quality cards for land in order to consistently play your high CMC spells. I run a single chandra nalaar in my list and i plan to replace her when i get a second or third koth.
Think about it this way-> Koth as a 4 drop basically says you can draw a card since you don't have to count on drawing that extra land, and therefore the card you draw is that much more likely to not be a land. Now couple that with the fact that it comes down a turn earlier. Still not convinced? You make a point that they could block with chumps. It's turn 4 so Elspeth has likely not dropped tokens to chump block with, and if they want to run memnite or ornithopter or something else, wouldn't you be happy if they block your mountain instead of having to waste burn so your geopede or goblin guide can get through? That might as well be a +1 repeatable Flame slash with Rebound most likely and i'd play that in Any RDW list.
Best cards against it-> Flashfreeze(obviously) and Vampire Hexmage. Although personally testing against hexmage if you play Zektar shrine, Koth and Dragonlord forcing a hexmage sac makes it that much worse. Usually you can have some interaction like killing hexmage before dropping koth but there's always the lucky topdecks.
In conclusion i will play koths in my RDW and will be very happy to see people unwilling to play him because they think that their slow U/W list or Infiltration lens combo or Quest for the holy relic can finish me off. And that's because i'd probably win.
no enemy colored duals in standard ATM
At that point you're pretty much discarding 4 cards and paying 6 mana just to play this for 1 and use it's ability to draw cards? That's almost as ridiculous as vensering' koth so you can use his -2 again.
Sorry if you thought mindbreak trap was for cascade, it was basically wizards' response to Storm combos in legacy. One in the hand can basically ruin all of charbelcher's win conditions. It wasn't that bad in cruel control either, since it's still a hard counter for 4.
Tunnel ingus is miles above this. If you've played RDW you know how much you want that extra damage, and all this does is force valakut and ramp to have some interaction with the opponent. I can't tell you how often the matchup is basically "ramp" "ball lightning" "ramp" "ball" "titan" "burn to face" "valakut kills", and this will at least force valakut to play some disruption. With kargan dragonlord and this guy i expect valakut to play something interesting instead of just trying to walk on by massive damage.
Steppe lynx -> Searing blaze?
Anyway, in the case of U/W, you basically put in your entire board except maybe combust, taking out burst lightning for manabarbs, searing blaze for brittle effigy, combust in somewhere if you see baneslayers where sun titans usually are, leyline for ember hauler, and probably 2 thunders and 2 hellsparks for your (flame slash) ricochet trap.
Flame slashing a baloth is my favorite play against that card. I honestly think that when your ball lightning gets a open smash because you played a red instant for 1 on a tempo you're probably doing pretty well, despite +4 life.